1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information receiving apparatus capable of reading information stored in an information storage medium such as a magnetic strip of a credit card, and more particularly, to an information receiving apparatus having a reader in contact with an information storage medium and reading information therefrom, the reader capable of moving inside and outside a body of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Together with a development of communication means, the frequency of paying with a credit card is gradually increased, which makes all kinds of information receiving apparatuses for receiving information stored in a magnetic strip of a credit card be developed.
Also, recently, there has been provided a portable multi-terminal capable of not only simply receiving information but also transmitting the received information and outputting all kinds of information related thereto, the multi-terminal manufactured with a size and structure to be portable not to have a spatial restriction.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are a perspective view and a side cross-sectional view illustrating the conventional portable multi-terminal.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional portable multi-terminal includes a personal digital assistant (PDA) 30 for inputting information written by hand, managing personal information, and interchanging information with a computer; a printer body 80 where a mounting area 51 is formed to interchange data with the PDA when the PDA is mounted thereon; a printer module 60 installed in the printer body 80 to print data displayed on the PDA 30 on a paper 11; a magnetic stripe reader (MSR) 92 installed to a portion projected toward a side of the printer body 80 and reading user information stored in a magnetic strip to allow payment with a credit card when the credit card is slid; a smart card reader 94 installed in the printer body 80 to interchange data with a smart card and perform payment with the smart card; and a barcode reader 96 installed in the one side of the printer body 80, reading a printed barcode on a product, and displaying a price of the product on the PDA 30.
In this case, the printer body 80 includes an upper case 50 where a mounting unit 51 for electrically connecting the printer module 60, the MSR 92, the smart card reader 94, and the barcode reader 96 to the mounted PDA 30 and a lower case 70 assembled with a bottom of the upper case 50 having a battery container 71 where a battery 10 is inserted, formed on one side of the lower case 70, and having a paper container 73 containing a roll of paper required to print data of the PDA 30 thereon, formed on another side of the lower case 70.
The upper case 50 has the mounting unit 51 with a pair of hooks 52 upwardly projected from both ends of a top surface thereof and has a connecting hole unit 53 to allow an assemble end of the PDA 30 to be in contact with the one side end of the mounting unit 51 to be electrically connected.
In addition, a printed circuit board (PCB) 54 is installed on an inner side of the connecting hole unit 53, the PCB 54 provides data transmitted from the PDA 30 to respective required devices, provides information inputted from the MSR 92, the smart card reader 94, and the barcode reader 96 to the PDA 30, and forms a controller controlling the printer module 60.
The battery container 71 is formed on one side of the lower case 70 and the paper container 73 is formed on another side of the lower case 70 in such a way that a battery cover 72 and a paper cover 74 are detachably installed. On a lower side end, a guide 75 is formed to allow a credit card to be slid while closely attached to the lower case 70.
In this case, the battery container 71 is formed of a panel curved inwardly to form a square, and the paper container 73 includes a storage 73a bulged upwardly to store the roll of the paper 11 and a guider 73b formed by one end of the storage 73a extended toward a discharge slit 76 in such a way that the paper is slid along a bottom surface of the guider 73b to be discharged and the printer module 60 and the barcode reader 96 are safely installed on a top surface as shown in FIG. 5.
The paper cover 74 is installed to be capable of sliding in a side direction of the lower case 70 in such a way that an end corresponding to the discharge slit 76 is curved upwardly to form a side surface of the lower case, in which a pair of supporters 74a are installed to rotate a discharge roller 65 of the printer module 60 to externally discharge the paper 11 via the discharge slit 76, and, when the paper cover 74 is detached from the lower case 70 to be slid toward the side, the discharge roller 65 is also detached from the printer module 60, thereby easily drawing the paper 11 discharged between the discharge roller 65 and the printer module 60.
The guide 75 forms a predetermined space together with the bottom surface of the lower case 70, in which the MSR 92 is installed to allow payment with a credit card to be performed by sensing user information stored in a magnetic strip when a user slides the magnetic strip of the credit card along the space.
However, in the conventional portable multi-terminal, since a space between the lower case 70 and the guide 75 is always exposed, a projected portion of the MSR 92 to read information stored in a magnetic strip of a credit card, which is exposed to the space, is polluted due to dusts. Therefore, information is not capable of being normally read.
Also, when water or drink flows into the space between the lower case 70 and the guide 75, the multi-terminal may get electrically damaged.